I joined Miki Hardisty and Eric Nakagawa for coffee at Sightglass coffee in San Francisco yesterday. 

What's happening: As CEO and co-founder of Olelo Intelligence, Miki is in town from Honolulu for Blue Startups’ Demo Day trip to San Francisco. I thought connecting her and Eric Nakagawa (CEO and co-founder, Self Labs) would be a good idea.

My Takeaways:

  • "If you stay curious, you can catch and ride all kinds of waves." Eric Nakagawa on life in San Francisco
  • Miki Hardisty lived away from Hawaii for 30 years, including as CTO of Jack in the Box corporate HQ in San Diego.
  • "Keep building, no matter what." Eric on what he's seen successful founders in Silicon Valley have in common
  • Miki grew up in Kailua, Eric grew up in public housing in Halawa.
  • Olelo Intelligence is AI for automotive companies. 
  • Miki found her experience at Blue Startups (cohort 17) very helpful.
  • "I don't fit a pattern most people expect." Miki has a Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Washington and a Masters of Advanced Study, Data Science, and Engineering from UC San Diego.

See also: Eric Nakagawa: Win or lose

Enjoy the pics!

Person holding Paubox spam musubi socks

Miki Hardisty with her new spam musubi Pausox

Eric Nakagawa holding Pausox socks at a meeting

Loading up Eric Nakagawa with five pairs of Pausox for his family

Eric Nakagawa and Miki Hardisty having coffee at a table in a modern loft space

"Who you know matters the most." Eric on fundraising in Silicon Valley.

Three people smiling at a coffee meeting in San Francisco

Three Hawaiians having coffee in SoMa, SF